As I mentioned before, one of the guidelines I had laid down for Kelz living with me was that I didn't want her to have any visitors when I wasn't around. I didn't know who these people were or what they were capable of doing. I knew that she would likely still have people over, but try to have them out of the house before I got home. This was really what I wanted. I had no desire to deal with them face to face. I'm not good with confrontations and it seemed like every time I encounter one, it's obvious to the other person that I can be very vulnerable.
I came home once to find Kelz sleeping on the foam mattress in the living room. She immediately got up and went into the bathroom. Her shirt was hiked slightly above her waist and I could see that she hadn't been wearing any pants or underwear. I have a feeling someone came over and they had sex. But it really wasn't my place to say anything. At the time, I suspected it was Nard, the guy she temporarily tried to live with before she had to keep all her stuff at my apartment.
Another time, I came home and Kelz was awake. However, she was tired and decided to go sleep in my bed. I still had some stuff to do before I needed to take a nap. The phone rang. After I picked it up, I got a recording informing me it was a collect call from the Wackenhut detention facility. It was Nard calling. Against my initial judgement, I went ahead and accepted the call. Nard said, "Hey, man! Thanks for taking this. I promise you this is going to be the only time I'm going to call."
My first thought was, "That's cool. He knows I don't appreciate this, but that I did him a favor by accepting the charges." I said, "Oh, thank you. Let me get Kelz for you." I opened the door to the bedroom. I guess I pushed the door a little too hard because it suddenly hit the wall and made a loud noise. Kelz immediately jolted up, stared at me and SCREAMED! (I guess this is how she reacts when the cops bust the door down. Also, note that Nard could hear what was going on.) I said, "Uh, Nard's on the phone. He wants to talk to you." I gave her the phone and shut the door. I didn't hear any of the conversation.
I never got another collect call from Nard. And I didn't see any surprise collect calls on the phone bill. However, he did write Kelz a letter from jail. She had left it out on the counter. I know I shouldn't have done this, but I did look at it. I kind of skimmed through it. I didn't see anything sexual, but he did go into details about an experience he had going to court to receive his sentence. It involved him having to get on a bus with several other prisoners who were also scheduled for sentencing. They were a bunch of mean guys who kept trying to stare him down. They did this during the entire 40-minute drive to the court house. They got there and had to wait another two hours in a holding area so they could appear before the judge. After all that waiting, they found out the judge they were scheduled with didn't come in that day, so their sentencing would be delayed. They all had to get back on the bus and he faced another 40-minute stare down all the way back to Wackenhut.
He also wanted Kelz to ask me if it was okay for him to call collect every once in awhile. If she had asked, she probably could have talked me into letting that happen. But she didn't ask, and I didn't talk about the letter. True to his word, Nard did not call again. In fact, we never did hear from that guy again. Kelz never got any more letters (and I was the only one with a mailbox key). I have no idea what happened to him.
But the experience did help me to realize that some people who lean to the criminal side of life do have morals and ethics when it comes to personal connections. Nard was certainly aware of and respected boundaries. In fact, I realized that Brod seemed to show that same level of respect when it came to me. To the best of my knowledge, Brod never came to the apartment while Kelz was pregnant. I guess he knew that Kelz was better off staying with me because I could help to ensure a healthy environment for his unborn child.
But not everyone Kelz knew shared these same values. That will the be topic of other blog posts WAY in the future.
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